8K North Korean troops near Ukraine border, says U.S.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday said that U.S. intelligence indicated 8,000 North Korean troops had amassed near the border of Ukraine in Russia’s Kursk region. Roughly 2,000 more North Korean troops are located elsewhere in Russia, Blinken said. His remarks came in a press conference after meetings with South Korean officials in Washington.

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yeol spoke at the joint press conference. North Korea’s cooperation with Russia violated UN Security Council resolutions, he said. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also spoke about efforts to increase U.S. military cooperation with South Korea and Japan. Also on Thursday, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood told the Security Council that any deployment of the North Korean troops against Ukraine would be an alarming expansion of the conflict.

What’s going to happen with these North Korean soldiers? The troops had not yet entered combat, Secretary Austin said. But the Russian military trained the North Korean troops on battlefield tactics, Blinken explained. The North Korean troops also received Russian uniforms, Austin said. Both Blinken and Austin noted that Russia appeared intent on deploying the North Korean troops on the battlefield. If they enter the battlefield, they would be legitimate targets for Ukrainian forces, Blinken said.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift today about North Korea conducting an intercontinental ballistic missile test—one of its longest ever, according to Japanese media.